1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to stretcher type devices used to transport accident victims, in particular, to stretcher type devices used to transport victims who have been exposed to hazardous materials.
2. Description of Related Art
The transportation of victims of hazardous material exposure poses unique challenges to emergency service personnel. Firstly, a victim must safely and quickly be removed from the "hot" area, the area of the hazardous material, Secondly, the victim must be decontaminated. This involves washing array the hazardous material (s) using a suitable solvent, generally water or a chemical and detergent solution. Finally, the victim must be transported to appropriate medical treatment facilitates via an ambulance, helicopter, or other appropriate means.
Current procedures require that a patient be moved from the location of exposure within a "hot" area to a decontamination point using a stretcher type device. Following decontamination, the patient must be transferred to a second non-contaminated stretcher type device. There are two reasons for this transfer. 1. The first stretcher type device is contaminated with the hazardous material and might introduce such contamination into the transportation vehicle and medical facilities, which increases the risk of exposure to others by lingering hazardous materials. 2. Current stretcher type devices do not allow complete decontamination of patients without moving them while on the device, due to pooling of hazardous materials between the patient's skin and the stretcher type device, termed "hot spots".
U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,871 discloses an ambulance cot with a base carrier structure and a removable stretcher attached to the top of the carrier. The stretcher may be removed for carrying patients down stairs, around comers, etc.
Decontaminating procedures are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,306. Plain water or water solution of soap or detergents are used. The purpose of decontamination is to remove the hazardous material from the exposed victim and to dilute the chemical to the point where it no longer poses treat of injury or harm to an individual.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,912 discloses a litter having a bed manufactured of a net of warp knit nylon or Dacron fabric. The net material was described as uniquely able to be formed into compound load bearing shapes, strong, transparent to X-rays, able to withstand washing and sterilization, and not tending to hold moisture.
A study of various materials for litter beds, which emphasized tensile strength and capacity for easy decontamination, identified monofilament polypropylene as suitable material (R. L. Joiner, F. G. Burton, and P. E. Bailey, Neat Agent Testing On Field Litter Cover Materials, Report No. AD-B117 108, Battelle Columbus Division, Sep. 30, 1987).
A Department of Defense military specification for a decontaminable coating for aluminum, such as a stretcher, identified polyurethane as a suitable material. (MIL-L-49511, U.S. Army Biomedical Research and Development Laboratory, Fort Detrick, Frederick Md. 21701-5010, Dec. 4, 1992).
The stretcher of the present invention eliminates the need to transfer a patient from a first to second stretcher type device. This stretcher is manufactured of materials which do not react with hazardous materials and which may be readily decontaminated when the patient is decontaminated. Furthermore, this stretcher has a bed design that allows decontamination of a patient who remains on the stretcher without creating hot spots of hazardous materials.